Seniors' health

AMSTERDAM (AP) — A Dutch organization that carries out euthanasia received 3,122 requests last year, a 22% increase from the year before, the Euthanasia Expertise Center said Friday. “Every work day, 13 people say: 'Help me, I can’t go on,'” Steven Pleiter, director of the center formerly known as...

WASHINGTON (AP) — A bipartisan Senate bill to curb prescription drug costs for Medicare recipients got a makeover Friday to lower copays and make it easier for seniors to budget for their expenses. The updated legislation unveiled by Sens. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Ron Wyden, D-Ore., would lower...

This image from the Medicare.gov website shows the landing page to find a drug plan for seniors. Leading senators are urging Medicare to allow seniors concerned about their drug plan pick for next year to switch if they believe they received inaccurate information. (Medicare via AP)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Leading senators are urging Medicare to allow seniors concerned about their drug plan pick for next year to switch if they received inaccurate information due to changes the agency made this sign-up season. The request from 14 Democrats and one Independent comes as open enrollment...

SAN DIEGO (AP) — A company that claims to have the first drug to slow mental decline from Alzheimer's disease made its case to scientists Thursday, disclosing more results that may help explain why one study of the experimental medicine succeeded and another failed. Excitement and skepticism have...

This undated photo provided by Acadia Pharmaceuticals Inc. shows a bottle of Nuplazid, a drug that was tested for treating psychosis related to dementia. If regulators agree, the drug could become the first treatment specifically for dementia-related psychosis and the first new medicine for Alzheimer's in nearly two decades. Results from a study on the drug were disclosed Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2019, at an Alzheimer's conference in San Diego. (Acadia Pharmaceuticals Inc. via AP)

SAN DIEGO (AP) — A drug that curbs delusions in Parkinson's patients did the same for people with Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia in a study that was stopped early because the benefit seemed clear. If regulators agree, the drug could become the first treatment specifically for...

FILE - In this Nov. 8, 2018 file photo, the U.S. Medicare Handbook is photographed in Washington. Medicare’s new prescription drug plan finder has a glitch that can steer unwitting seniors to coverage that costs much more than they need to pay. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Medicare’s revamped prescription plan finder can steer unwitting seniors to coverage that costs much more than they need to pay, according to people who help with sign-ups as well as program experts. Serving some 60 million Medicare recipients, the plan finder is the most commonly...

Marco Alcaraz uses a garden hose to protect his girlfriend's home as the Easy fire approaches Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2019, in Simi Valley, Calif. A new wildfire erupted Wednesday in wind-whipped Southern California, forcing the evacuation of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and nearby homes, as both ends of the state struggled with blazes, dangerously gusty weather and deliberate blackouts. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)

FILE - In this Aug. 14, 2018 file photo, Dr. William Burke goes over a PET brain scan at Banner Alzheimers Institute in Phoenix. The drug company Biogen Inc. says it will seek federal approval for a medicine to treat early Alzheimer's disease, a landmark step toward finding a treatment that can alter the course of the most common form of dementia.
The announcement Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2019, is a surprise because the company earlier this year stopped two studies of the drug, called aducanumab, after partial results suggested it was not working. (AP Photo/Matt York, File)

The drug company Biogen Inc. said Tuesday it will seek federal approval for a medicine to treat early Alzheimer's disease, a landmark step toward finding a treatment that can alter the course of the most common form of dementia. The announcement was a surprise because the company earlier this year...

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks edged higher in early trading Tuesday following several positive earnings reports from U.S. companies, holding the S&P 500 above 3,000 and within range of its all-time high set on July 26. The latest earnings were surprisingly good, though a few large companies gave...

FILE - In this Oct. 11, 2019, file image taken with a slow shutter speed a soccer player runs for the ball during the Euro 2020 group A qualifying soccer match in Prague, Czech Republic. A study, from the University of Glasgow and reported Monday, Oct. 21, in New England Journal of Medicine, of former professional soccer players in Scotland found that they were less likely to die of common causes such as heart disease and cancer compared with the general population but more likely to die from dementia. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek, File)

LONDON (AP) — A study of former professional soccer players in Scotland finds that they were less likely to die of common causes such as heart disease and cancer compared with the general population but more likely to die from dementia. The results raise fresh concerns about head-related risks from...